Drought: Tears and tough tales as hay arrives for farmers

Posted on 23 July 201931 October 2023

Orange region farmers Matt and Linda Hannelly have been in drought for three years.

Mullion Creek’s Ted and Nicole Gill have taken other jobs to make ends meet.

Like many farmers in the region much of their herds have died or been sold off.

Mr Hannelly and Mr Gill joined a line of more than 20 trucks from hard-working, but needy, district farmers who waited in line at the Borenore Field Days site on Monday to receive an allocation of hay trucked over from WA as part of the Rural Aid drought relief program.ADVERTISING

It was a similar case earlier in the day at a Molong property where truckloads of hay were unloaded for farmers and $500 gift cards were handed out.

One farmer there wept as he told Rural Aid officials how he needed the money to buy a pair of shoes for his young daughter.

Mr Hannelly said he now had only 10 head of cattle at his Ophir Road and Stuart Town farms.

“At Stuart Town I have been feeding for three years straight,” he said.

 “I bought the property just at the beginning of the major part of the drought.

“It’s bad at Stuart Town. There’s no pick, there’s nothing left out there. Wildlife is the next problem, deer and kangaroos, deer is a huge problem. Rabbits are coming back through again, you just can’t win at the moment.”

He said this was his first allocation of free hay. “And it’s just come too late for me, throwing the livelihood of it [away]. I’m working trying to make up for it now.”

Mr Gill said he hoped to get 13 bales which would provide enough feed for his reduced herd of 100 head for about a week.

“Me and my wife [Nicole] have had to get jobs off farm,” he said.

Mr Gill said getting hay had been a major problem as some he had previously sourced “was just rubbish”.

Rural Aid general manager Wayne Thomson said delivery days were emotional.

“We had a farmer this morning who burst into tears. He said he hadn’t been able to buy a pair of shoes for his little daughter,” he said.

“It’s very emotional. There’s lots of tears. This morning there was a lot of hugging going on.”

 At Borenore two trucks, each carrying 140 bales of hay which weighed 750-800 kilograms each, arrived.

Mr Thomson said each truckload cost $250,000, with transport the biggest component at $150,000.

The hay has been bought through donations to Rural Aid’s Buy a Bale scheme and government relief funding, particularly for the transport costs.

The donors included staff from the Merrylands RSL club in Sydney who have given $30,000. That was matched by the club’s board and in turn that was matched by Qantas Airways raising a total of $120,000

About 25 club staff visited the two donation sites on Monday by bus to meet farmers and see first hand conditions in the Central West.

 Club CEO Bryn Miller said about 100 staff had been donating $5-$40 out of their pay each week since September toward drought relief.

Mr Miller, who grew up in Nashdale, said he still had family in Orange and was following the drought situation.

He said they would continue to donate funds and he would challenge other RSL clubs in Sydney to join their efforts.

“It is a long way from being over. You tend to forget about this when you are in the city,” he said.

“We hope the hay can make a difference. But we know only rain can make a difference.”

The article’s credit is for the source: Central Western Daily

Rural Aid Farm Army creates a ‘buzz’ in Trundle

Posted on 4 July 201931 October 2023

“I could cry” was one Trundle farmer’s emotional sentiment to having the Rural Aid Farm Army on his property lending a helping hand last week.

“If they weren’t here I’d be crawling,” he said.

“We are not running, but at least we are walking.”

One of the volunteers on the farm, Marshal Jacobs from Echuca, said Rural Aid performed a farm rescue on his place a few years ago so he just wants to give back.

This is his third time “giving back”.

Farm Army program manager Julia Hahn said a rescue takes a lot of planning.

“We come in a month out and ask ‘what can we do for you?’,” she said.

“Here we are, we have 70 volunteers for a week, everyone is raring to go, to push their sleeves up and do some hard yakka.

“They are very shy to start with about putting their jobs down, but by the time that month has come around and we are nearly here there is a real buzz in town.

“Before we even touch down there has been a lot of money spent already. We buy as much as we can from businesses in town, we don’t bring anything with us.

“When you spend $1, it gets re-spent three to five times before it ends up leaving the town.

“It helps to regenerate the local economy and helps to keep the money in town a little bit longer.”

Julia said being involved with Rural Aid, the Farm Army and a Farm Rescue is a life changing experience for everyone.

“This trip we’ve had a combination of our grey nomads and corporate volunteers,” she said.

“A lot of the Farmy Army are grey nomads, the average age is about 65 or 66.

“And with the Forsythe corporates we’ve had in, I made a joke that they have now put our average age at about 19! It was nice to have some young blood.

“These people have been so affected emotionally and have connected with the farmers and the people in the town, they want to come back.”

Julia said the Farm Rescue program is growing very quickly.

“So much so, next year we are looking at duplicating our two coordinators on the ground,” she said.

“We are looking at putting together a four or five year plan with companies to have them come back – sort of like adopt the town and come back each year to reconnect.”

Julia said Rural Aid has a lot of volunteers from all over Australia wanting to help.

“One of our ladies who is with us at the moment drove from the Sunshine Coast, just her and her dog,” Julia said.

“She lost her husband and her mum and her dad in a very short period of time. She said to me ‘I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found Farm Army’.”

Article credit’s is for the source: Parkes Champion post

Relief road train rolls into town

Posted on 2 July 201931 October 2023

 A road train packed with hay bales and stock feed was a welcome sight to farmers in the Stradbroke area last week.

FARMERS in the Stradbroke area were given a helping hand last Wednesday, when a road train arrived to deliver bales of hay and stock feed to those affected by the drought.

The relief convoy was thanks to Queensland company Rural Aid’s ‘Buy a Bale’ initiative, which has resulted in a number of drought-affected areas across Australia receiving support.

Each farmer registered with Rural Aid was allocated a share of the $60,000 in feed, as well as a $500 voucher to use at a local independent supermarket, to ease the burden of grocery bills.

Community spirit was alive and well at the hay drop, as farmers helped each other unload square bales and bulk bags of feed off semi-trailers and onto the back of utilities and smaller trailers.

Rural Aid general manager Wayne Thomson said while the fight against drought was an ongoing battle, he was heartened by the response nationwide.

“We certainly hope that Rural Aid makes a bit of a difference to where farmers are at, and the hay drop gives them a bit of a reprieve to find a bit of money to find the food for their animals,” he said.

“Certainly the rest of Australia is still dealing with it; New South Wales is at 99 per cent drought – it’s massive – and to be honest, a lot of our attention is there.

“Queensland is at about 68 per cent, and South Australia is a bit of a basket case as well.

“When it does rain, it will rain and continue to rain, and one day the drought will be over, but until then, we’ve got to be here to support farmers, let them know that people care and know that we’re here to help until they’re back on their feet.

“The sad thing here [in Gippsland] of course is that there has been some rain so the place looks green, but it is just green dirt, and these farmers are still doing it very tough, so this is the first of many drops to come to support the farmers in the area that need the help and just need a bit of a breather.

“To have this sort of reprieve so people can maybe catch up on some other bills is very timely, so we’re glad to be here to help.”

Hawthorn Football Club also threw its support behind the program, donating $14,930 to the cause after auctioning off special edition ‘Buy a Bale’ jumpers, worn during the round 23 clash against Sydney last season.

Hawthorn leadership group member Isaac Smith was one of the spearheads of the campaign, maintaining the Hawks’ reputation of being ‘the family club’.

Hawthorn general manager of community and foundation Kerrie Brewer said the club was proud to partner with Rural Aid.

“A number of our players hail from country backgrounds, and were passionate about the club supporting this cause,” she said.

“Our fans getting involved in the auction means that we’ve been able to provide farmers in need with vital hay and feed for their animals.”

 Rural Aid general manager Wayne Thomson, alongside local farmers Hamilton Gerrans, Brian Nicholls, Jenny Nicholls, Helen Milne and Damian Lee, in front of one of the road trains stocked with hay that came to farmers in the Stradbroke area.

Stradbroke farmer John Gerrand said the assistance was welcome.

“It’s going to be a little help because it’s been pretty tough – it’ll keep the sheep going for a little while and of course the grocery vouchers will be a big help too,” he said.

“It’s fantastic to have it here, because hay is hard to source right now.

“We’ve been hoping and hoping to get an autumn break or a late autumn break, and it would start raining, but, seeing as though it hasn’t, I’ve got my doubts it’s going to do it this year.

“You have to remain optimistic, or else you go nowhere.”

Mr Gerrand said the delivery would be enough to feed his 2000 ewes and 50 cattle for about a week, and was grateful for the feed.

“Most of them [the cows] are away on agistment, the sheep are here and with the rain we’ve had the sheep aren’t too bad,” he said.

“But we’ve got a lot of weed grass, and we haven’t had any follow-up rain on the rain we had a month ago.

“We’ve just had three frosts in a row that were pretty severe, meaning the food’s going to disappear pretty quickly.”

Anybody wishing to become a Rural Aid member or to donate can do so by phoning 1300 327 624.

The article’s credit is for the source: Gippsland Times

Hawthorn’s hay drop

Posted on 1 July 201931 October 2023

Hawthorn Football Club and Rural Aids ‘Buy a Bale’ program this week delivered hay to drought affected farmers in East Gippsland.

The hay drop was made possible through the combined efforts of the Hawks and Rural Aid.

The Hawks donated $14,930 to Rural Aid Australia after raising money in the ‘Footy for Drought Relief’ game last year.

The Round 23 match saw Hawthorn and Sydney come together, not only for a blockbuster game, but also to raise funds for the many farmers doing it tough in Australia’s drought crisis.

In a whole club effort, all players donated their limited edition match-worn ‘Buy a Bale’ guernsey’s for auction. All players, club and relevant stakeholders also gifted their benefits meaning that 100% of the profits of the auction were donated to the Buy a Bale campaign.

Hawthorn GM-Foundation and Community Kerrie Brewer said she was proud of Hawks fans for jumping on board and supporting farmers.

“A number of our players hail from country backgrounds and were passionate about the club supporting this cause.”

 “Our fans getting involved in the auction means that we’ve been able to provide farmers in need with vital hay and feed for their animals.”

Rural Aid’s General Manager Wayne Thomson said he was thankful to the Hawks and their fans for supporting Aussie farmers.

“Sadly, the drought hasn’t broken yet and there are many farmers doing it really tough. The support the Hawks have provided to these farmers today means a lot.”

Every dollar generated from the auction went directly to Rural Aid Australia’s ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign and today saw hay provided to several drought affected farmers in Victoria’s Gippsland region.  

To find out more about the work of Rural Aid Australia and their ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign visit Rural Aid and Buy a Bale websites

The article’s credit is for the source: Hawthron Football Club